They won't say why, but White House personnel security sent Ashkan Soltani packing.

Privacy researcher Ashkan Soltani, who worked on several Washington Post stories regarding the Snowden leaks, has been barred from working at the White House.

In December, Soltani was hired to be senior adviser to White House Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith. On Friday, Soltani said on Twitter that to his disappointment, the White House Office of Personnel Security denied him a security authorization to work there.

"I'm told this is something that happens from time to time and I won't speculate on the reasons," said Soltani in a statement. "I do want to say that I am proud of my work, I passed the mandatory drug screening some time ago, and the FBI background check was still underway. There was also no allegation that it was based on the quality or integrity of my work."

While Soltani and those close to him may not want to speculate, others will. And the assumption many will make is that White House security people don't want someone who participated in journalism around Edward Snowden to be in the White House. Soltani was a technical expert helping produce articles based on Snowden's leaked documents, working together with The Washington Post reporter Barton Gellman. He's a recipient of a 2014 Pulitzer Prize, which was shared between teams at The Washington Post and The Guardian.

Reached by telephone this morning, Soltani said he had no comment beyond the Friday statement.

Soltani was hired away from the Federal Trade Commission, where he had been chief technologist since 2014. In addition to his work with the Post, Soltani has helped reporters at The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal with technology stories, including the Journal's series covering online tracking, "What They Know."

"Definitely ready to go back to the west coast," Soltani added. "Just wish I hadn't spent all my money on suits instead of bike parts."